HM Prison Maze
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
For families
How to send mail, money, and visit HM Prison Maze
Step-by-step guidance using the United Kingdom system — addresses, money services, visit booking, what to bring on your first visit.
Background
HM Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as the Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison and internment camp in Northern Ireland that was used to house paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to September 2000. On 15 October 1974 Irish Republican internees burned 21 of the compounds used to house the internees thereby destroying much of Long Kesh. The prison was situated at the former Royal Air Force station of Long Kesh, on the outskirts of Lisburn. This was in the townland of Maze, about nine miles (14 km) southwest of Belfast. The prison and its inmates were involved in such events as the 1981 hunger strike.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
—
Current population
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Occupancy
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Year opened
1971
Closed 2000
Figures from official sources · verified 22 May 2026 · methodology
Facility profile
Operator
Northern Ireland Prison ServicePopulation held
Mixed/unknown
Opened
1971
Region
—
Security level
High-security
Death-row facility
No
Conditions
No conditions summary available yet.
Visiting
No visiting information available.
Mailing
No mailing information available.
Practical info
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
Known issues
No major issues documented in our database.
Contact & address
No public contact details available.
Conditions Risk Score
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
Related facilities
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
- HMP WandsworthLondonHighLocal159% occupancy
- HMP FranklandDurhamMaximumLocal100% occupancy
- HMP BarlinnieGlasgowHighLocal147% occupancy
- HMP Cookham WoodKentHighLocal
- HMP PentonvilleLondonHighYOI137% occupancy
- HMP StyalWilmslowHighClosed female
Data completeness
28%How many of our profile fields are populated. We surface this so families and researchers know the limits.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation
- Wikidata (Q126717356)
- Wikipedia
- See /data-sources for our overall methodology.
Cite this page
Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). HM Prison Maze. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-maze
"HM Prison Maze." World Prisons. Accessed October 20, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-maze.
@misc{worldprisons-hm-prison-maze,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {HM Prison Maze},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/hm-prison-maze},
urldate = {2026-10-20}
}